Wednesday:We arrived around 9am. I caught the bus to the arena, and from there went downtown to run an errand and check out the thrift/vintage stores on Van Ness Street. Didn't find much to buy, but it was nice to be outside.It was still over 100 degrees, but at least it wasn't 115 like in Phoenix last week.Nothing else to report today...after I was finished poking around I came back to the train, ate dinner, and went to bed early since there's an early show on the 4th! Well the show's at 3pm, but we've got our weekly meeting at 10:30am.

Thursday:Happy 4th of July!There was a really awesome party for us at the arena.The Pie car staff catered it...BBQ chicken, ribs, burgers, sausage, even veggie burgers!Grilled corn cobs, fruit salad potato salad, cookies, and chips for dessert :)And a nice selection of beers and coolers.

Uncle John running the grill in the blistering heat:(photo courtesy Eryn, teacher)

Someone had an inflatable pool :)(photo courtesy Eryn, teacher)

There was a water slide for the kids!

Lots of people showed up to enjoy the evening.(photo courtesy Eryn, teacher)By the way, those things that we're sitting under are solar panels!

There was also a hot dog eating contest, hosted by the clowns.Two clown teams participated, and there were also teams from the Negrey acrobats,the Wheel, Animal Crew, Concessions, and Backstage (hope I'm not forgetting anyone!)

One of the clown teams shows off.

The competitors lined up and ready.

The Wheel acrobats won by virtue of eating 16 hot dogs and not vomiting! Great job guys!

After that a band made up of Jameson (vocals/guitar/keys), Deuce (drums) Chris (bass) and Gerome (guitar)played for us until the fireworks started.

I hope everyone else's 4th celebrations were as awesome as ours :)

The rest of the week was pretty standard.We had a six pack over the weekend, and once that started there was little time for exploring.Next we go to LA, where we've got a schedule similar to what we had in Brooklyn.14 shows in 7 days. Blarney! But at least the weather might be nice!

One other thing...a big funky WELCOME BACK to our lead trumpet, Slick!!!!(Claudia made this :D)